BILL NUMBER: ACR 91	CHAPTERED  09/15/99

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER   114
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 15, 1999
	ADOPTED IN SENATE   SEPTEMBER 10, 1999
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 10, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 10, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Villaraigosa
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Alquist, Aroner, Ashburn, Baldwin,
Bates, Battin, Baugh, Bock, Brewer, Briggs, Calderon, Campbell,
Cardenas, Cardoza, Cedillo, Corbett, Correa, Cox, Cunneen, Davis,
Dickerson, Ducheny, Dutra, Firebaugh, Florez, Frusetta, Gallegos,
Granlund, Havice, Hertzberg, Honda, Jackson, Kaloogian, Keeley, Knox,
Kuehl, Leach, Lempert, Leonard, Longville, Lowenthal, Machado,
Maddox, Maldonado, Margett, Mazzoni, Migden, Nakano, Olberg, Oller,
Robert Pacheco, Rod Pacheco, Papan, Pescetti, Reyes, Romero, Runner,
Scott, Shelley, Soto, Steinberg, Strom-Martin, Thomson, Torlakson,
Vincent, Washington, Wayne, Wesson, Wiggins, Wildman, Wright, and
Zettel)

                        SEPTEMBER 1, 1999

   Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 91--Relative to Mexican
Independence Week.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACR 91, Villaraigosa.  Mexican Independence Week.
   This measure would call on all the people of California to join
the people of Mexico and Californians of Mexican heritage in
recognizing and celebrating the 16th of September as Mexican
Independence Day with the cry of Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla,
"Long live independence!  Death to bad government!" and would declare
September 12 to 18, 1999, as Mexican Independence Week.




   WHEREAS, For centuries the people of Mexico suffered under the
oppressive political and economic rule of the government of Spain;
and
   WHEREAS, A movement toward Mexican independence was slowly taking
root under the widespread exploitation and oppression at all levels
of society by the government of Spain; and
   WHEREAS, The nucleus of this movement was a group of intellectuals
in the State of Queretaro.  The group included Miguel Dominguez, a
former corregidor (Mayor) of Queretaro, his wife, Dona Josefa Ortiz
de Dominguez, remembered in Mexican history as La Corregidora,
several distinguished officers, among them the adventurous Ignacio
Allende, and Ignacio Aldama, and the parish priest of the City of
Dolores, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla; and
   WHEREAS, In the early morning hours of September 16, 1810, Father
Hidalgo rang the church bells, assembled the townspeople, and rallied
them to rise up in arms and rebel against the despotism of Spanish
rule; and
   WHEREAS, Speaking from the balcony of the parish of Nuestra Senora
de Los Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows), Father Hidalgo made a
proclamation for independence with the famous words, now known as El
Grito de Dolores:  "Long live our Lady of Guadalupe!  Long live
independence!  Death to bad government!"; and
   WHEREAS, The war to free Mexico from the stronghold of Spain began
with a rebel army comprised of civilian Indians, Mestizos, and
Creoles armed with makeshift weapons including machetes, swords,
knives, clubs, axes, stones, slings, sticks, and spears; and
   WHEREAS, The revolutionary army assembled by Father Hidalgo's
momentous call for independence eventually swelled to over 80,000 and
managed to conquer several important cities; and
   WHEREAS, Father Hidalgo's El Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores)
became the battle cry of the Mexican War of Independence.  The people
of Mexico fought for 11 years before they finally won their freedom
and independence from Spain on September 28, 1821; and
   WHEREAS, Because of Father Hidalgo's patriotism, his championing
of human rights, and his personal courage and tenacity, he is widely
considered by the people of Mexico to be the father of their nation
and the symbol of Mexican independence; and
   WHEREAS, The famous Grito de Dolores that he shouted that night is
remembered and repeated each year in elaborate ceremonial Mexican
Independence Day celebrations north and south of the border; and
   WHEREAS, Increasingly, Mexico and the United States, particularly
the State of California, are now forming ever closer ties both
culturally and economically that benefit both nations; and
   WHEREAS, September 16 reminds us of the close ties, spiritual as
well as economic, that bind the people of Mexico and the people of
the United States, and especially California, the home of millions of
Mexicans and Mexican-Americans; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California
hereby calls on all the people of California to join the people of
Mexico and Californians of Mexican heritage in recognizing and
celebrating the 16th of September with the cry of Father Miguel
Hidalgo y Costilla:  "Long live independence!  Death to bad
government!"; and be it further
   Resolved, That the week of September 12 to 18, 1999, is hereby
declared Mexican Independence Week, and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit a copy of
this resolution to the Governor and to the author for appropriate
distribution.
